Battle of Neville's Cross

The Battle of Neville's Cross occurred on 17 October 1346 during the Wars of Scottish Independence. King David II of Scotland honored the Auld Alliance with France by invading France just after the start of the Hundred Years' War, but his 12,000-strong Scottish army was met in battle by Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville's 7,000-strong army west of Durham. The Scottish army was destroyed in the ensuing battle, and David II was captured in battle.

Background
Scotland and France had forged the "Auld Alliance" in 1295 with the goal of controlling England's invasions. In 1337, England entered into the Hundred Years' War with France, and, while they signed the Treaty of Malestroit in 1343 with the goal of ending the conflict, the war continued. In response, King David II of Scotland raided northern England in October 1345. In 1346, as King Edward III of England planned an invasion of northern France, King Philip VI of France sent a plea for help to King David. In July 1346, Edward and 15,000 English troops landed in Normandy, provoking the Scots into invading northern England. After being rebuffed by local defense forces, they agreed to a truce with England and assembled their army at Perth, while the English assembled their own army with which they could meet the Scottish invasion. By the time the truce had expired on 29 September 1346, the French had already been decisively defeated at the Battle of Crecy and the English were besieging Calais. On 7 October, the 12,000-strong Scottish army again invaded northern England, the strongest and best-equipped Scottish expedition yet. They massacred the garrison of Liddell Peel fortress, bypassed Carlisle in exchange for a bribe, ravaged the countryside, sacked Hexham Abbey, and encamped outside Durham. Meanwhile, the English had assembled an army of 7,000 troops under Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville, and it had marched north from Yorkshire to meet the invaders.

Battle
The two armies first clashed near Merrington, where 300 Scots were killed by the rear of the English army during a raid. The two armies then met less than half a mile to the west of Durham, and both armies divided themselves in thirds. The Scots took up a defensive stance and waited for the English to attack, but English arrow fire provoked the Scots into attacking. John Graham, Earl of Menteith led a cavalry charge against the English archers in an attempt to clear them away, but he was captured instead. John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray led the main Scottish assault, but the broken terrain and obstacles slowed their advance and ruined their schiltron formations. After the main Scottish assault was repelled, Patrick V, Earl of March and Robert Stewart's divisions also broke and fled, and the English then poured arrows onto the remaining Scots under David II and launched an assault on his forces. The numerically-inferior English footsoldiers routed the demoralized Scottish troops, and the badly-wounded David II was captured after he fled to a bridge over the River Browney, where English soldiers noticed his reflection in the water and captured him. More than 50 Scottish barons were killed or captured, and Scotland lost almost all of its military leadership in one grand battle. Among the dead were David de la Hay, Robert III Keith, Marischal of Scotland, Thomas Charteris, the Earl of Moray, Maurice de Moravia, Earl of Strathearn, and Niall Bruce of Carrick. The Earl of Menteith was executed on King Edward's orders, as he had previously sworn fealty to Edward, yet rose up against him as an ally of David II. The Scottish prisoners who were not ransomed were massacred. After the battle's end, Baron Neville erected a stone cross to memorialize the fallen, and the site of the battle became known as "Neville's Cross"; the cross was destroyed in 1589.